The effects of context on the classroom discourse skills of children with language impairment.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of context on the classroom discourse skills of children with language impairment (LI).


METHODS
Four classroom contexts were audiotaped among 11 children with LI: a journal-writing conference, a small-group lesson, a peer play session, and sharing time.


RESULTS
Context affected the children's performances on language productivity and complexity measures, self-monitoring strategies, and turn-taking patterns.


CONCLUSIONS
Classroom discourse as a set of discourse genres is critical in the assessment and intervention of LI. In order to be representative of a given child's competence, several of such genres must be sampled in language assessment.
Peets
Kathleen F
KF
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. kpeets@post.harvard.edu
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D019303:Multilingualism; D012574:Schools; D012919:Social Behavior; D013060:Speech